Thursday, October 27
Present: 5 students
Poetry “Le Cancre” by Jacques Prévert
Oral work, learning the first 12 lines together. The text is distributed afterwards.
Le Cancre
Jacques PRÉVERT
Collection: “Paroles
He says no with his head
but he says yes from the heart
he says yes to what he loves
he says no to the teacher
he stands
we question him
and all the problems are posed
a sudden fit of giggles
and erases everything
numbers and words
dates and names
phrases and traps
and despite the master’s threats
under the booing of child prodigies
with chalk of all colors
on the blackboard of misfortune
he draws the face of happiness.
“Le Cancre”, from the collection “Paroles” published by Gallimard
Fatras/ Succession Jacques Prévert, for audiovisual and digital rights
Jacques Prévert was a French poet and screenwriter, born on February 4, 1900 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, and died on April 11, 1977 in Omonville-la-Petite (Manche). After the success of his first collection of poems, “Paroles”, he became a popular poet thanks to his colloquial language and wordplay. Since then, his poems have become famous throughout the French-speaking world, and are widely taught in French schools. He has also written screenplays for the cinema.
Work on the words in the text :
- Verb “dire” + COD vs verb “parler” without COD. Imperative “Tell me!”
- The compound vowels ai, œu , ou, eau
- Nasals on, ain, en, an,
- The accents of “e”, é, è, ê
- The heart ❤️ – and the chorus 🎼🎤
- Threats: if you don’t do your homework, I’ll punish you.
- The giggle
- The traps
- The booing
- Happiness, unhappiness
- The master, the teacher
- Suddenly
- Blackboard and chalk
- The verb “to question”: to ask questions.
- Delete
- I’m standing and I’m sitting
Homework assignment: memorize this poem
Homework for J 🎼: learn “Ne me quitte pas” 🎤 first two verses